100% Me — From Start to Finish

The Language of Dance

This is my design. 100% mine. From start to Finish. I did this! Woot! Uh-Huh! [doing that circle in the air thing] Doing my happy chair dance. Who da manz!? I iz!

Ok, ok. Seriously folks this design is all mine.

Since this is only the third in this new series, here is a reminder about the format. Each post will have three parts:

A large image of the new design (like the one to the right)

A bit of background on how the design came about (just below)

A few of my favorite products with the new design (just below that)

I hope you are enjoying the “back story” on the designs as I create them.

Even if you don’t visit the store and do some shopping, please hit the share and like buttons so that others can find out about my designs. Thanks!

Background on my latest design:

The idea for Language of Dance on my “brainstorming” list of design ideas.

Way back when I first had the idea of creating designs for t-shirts, mugs, etc I sat down at my computer and came up with, literally, 14 printed 8 1/2 x 11 pages, double and single spaced… quotes, quips, sayings, and design ideas.

Yes, dear readers, all nine of you who are reading this, without my usual dramatic embelishments, I can TRUTHFULLY say there is a fourteen page document on my desk right in front of me as I speak and on page ten there is this idea.

So… this was one of the very first “ideas” I had. I had seen shirts with the word “Dance” in English written in different Fonts and different sizes arranged in a mosaic kind of pattern but I had never seen that done with multiple languages.

This is also one of the very first designs I ever created. I actually used a word processor to do the design because of the large amount of text. Using a graphics program really wasn’t working.

I used an online translation program to look up words from languages around the world. I basically just went down the list of languages and grabbed any that “looked cool” or that slightly resembled “Dance” in English. I tried to choose colors from across the spectrum. And them when I was done, I started cutting and pasting them into a shape that I liked.

Then I did a screen grab to convert the “text” into a graphic. I then imported the graphic into a graphics editing program and fiddled with the twiddly bits and Tah-Dah… I had my first design.

And then I fell promptly on my face. I discovered that designing for t-shirts and mugs is a not an easy process and of all the designs I could have chosen for a “first” effort, doing something like this was NOT a good choice. There are lots of problems with it from a design standpoint. The wide range of colors means that it really looks best on a white background but putting a white background on white products is problematic. And when creating the design I gave no thought to the size of the design area on the products onto which the design would go.

The upshot was that I eventually just threw my hands into the air in frustration and started moved on to something simpler. And this design languished on the sidelines: even though I had created a few products; even though I had announced this design before (with the earlier) versions of it.

But now, after months of practice and learning more about graphics editing than I ever thought I’d know, I was ready to tackle it again. Start from scratch and do it up right. If you compare the “idea” photo to the “finished” design you can see that the idea is basically the same but the arrangement is far different, in order to accommodate the constraints required by the products on zazzle.

And I’m pretty happy with the results.

As with all my designs, it seems as if as soon as I finish, I get an idea for variations to the design. So watch for future versions working with this concept.

My favorite products with the new design…

Sometimes when I finish with a design and load it onto the products I feel like “Grumpy Cat” who doesn’t like anything. Because, well to be honest, they just don’t look as good as I had envisioned.

But then, sometimes, when I load a design I just go “WOW.” This particular design has quite a few “Wows.” I hope you enjoy them and if you do, help me out by clicking those like and share buttons. Here are my favorites from the first batch: (and no… the hunk does NOT come with the shirt… alas plus he might not even be legal! *GASP* We shall assume that he’s of college age—you dirty minded… …of course I could be externalizing again…. but I digress *sigh*)

Shirts come in over 200 styles and colors

Shirts are available for men, women, kids, and babies.

Shirts come in short, long and no-sleeve.

The necklaces come in plate (inexpensive) to Sterling (VERY nice but expensive)

Pillows come in Square and rectangle

This is the metal keyring but you can get a cheaper version of this for under $4

Mugs come in dozens of styles and colors

Mousepads come in regular and Gel. This is the gel.

This bag is under $10; there are bags to suit every taste, need and budget.

As a reminder, since this is only the third announcement of designs using this new “standardized format”… I’ll share with you a few of the products from the first batch on which I think the new design looks awesome. If you want to see all the products, then click on one of the many links scattered through this post and hop on over to the store… Cheers!

Related articles

Share with folks on the Interwebz :-)

Like this:

LikeLoading...

About TxCowboyDancer

Nine time Country Dance World Champion. I love to dance. In the middle of a journey, transforming myself from "unemployed and out-of-shape" to "in-shape and full time dance instructor, writer and graphic artist."